August 5

100 Years ago – 1924

The Woman’s Missionary Union of the Baptist Blue Ridge Association held its annual convention at the Baptist church in Axton. The Association was composed of 40 churches in Franklin, Floyd, Carroll, Patrick and Henry county.

75 years ago – 1949

A traffic survey was underway in Martinsville. Young people employed by the State Highway Department questioned motorists. They were asking people who were parking where they had come from and where they were going. Drivers were stopped at the city limits for the same purpose. The traffic count the day before showed that there were 1,499 cars headed eastward on Main street in front of the courthouse and 4,090 cars went westward. A total of 2,319 cars were going south on Jones street, but the northbound cars there were not counted. The people counting did so using small mechanical counters. They also counted the numbers of right and left turns and the number of pedestrians who crossed in front of the courthouse square.

1960

The Martinsville-Henry County Health Department offered a free clinic for polio vaccines. The vaccines were given in four shots spaced out by time.

50 years ago – 1974

Seven hundred fifty people attended the Prillaman reunion at Fairystone Park. DuPont Plant Manager Don Hartford was the guest speaker, talking about his recent trip to Europe. There was group singing and a performance by the Brammer String Quartet.

25 years ago - 1999

Tultex announced that it cut its losses by more than half, but sales were still lower than expected for the second quarter of 1999. It posted $19.3 million in net income for the quarter because of refinancing its debt into a $150 million secured line of credit.

— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.